The charter school seeking approval to open in the city has pulled its application, according to an email from the charter school to the Connecticut State Board of Education.
“I wanted to inform you that at this time, we have decided to withdraw our application to open a charter school under the current RFP process,” states the email from REACH Academy Charter.
The reason for the email, as stated in the email is “to save both the State Board of Education and the town residents the time and energy of having to debate these issues at the January board meeting.”
The email thanks the state board for hosting a public hearing on Thursday evening as well as its “approachability and willingness to engage with us” and requests a meeting in February, “so that we can move forward and begin to build a mutually beneficial relationship.”
The second of two State Department of Education public hearings regarding REACH’s application was held Thursday evening, Jan. 9, at the Bristol Board of Education. The first public hearing was hosted by the state Board of Education, also, at the Bristol Board of Education in mid-December.
In a separate development, at its Jan. 8 meeting the Bristol Board of Education unanimously voted down recommending REACH’s application. The vote was largely symbolic, since the application is with the state and not local officials.
The distinction between a state charter school and a local charter school is that with the former the local board of education must abide by the decision and state governance while with the latter, the decision lies with the local board of education as does management. Funding sources and obligations differ depending on arrangement.
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